


TERRENCE'S TRUE GIFT

by RebelStoryTeller



Category: Biker Mice From Mars
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24087928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelStoryTeller/pseuds/RebelStoryTeller





	TERRENCE'S TRUE GIFT

On a warm and breezy summer morning in late May, deep in a dark forest inside an old victorian style home, Terrence Cley lay soundly sleeping in a spacious bed inside a doorless room that he had been thrown into nine months ago when his dreams went from secret passions to thinking of making hot,steamy triple chocolate chip muffins with his mate to his worst night mare: him making a batch of muffins and spreading food poisoning and loosing his medical license and the authorization to practice on base.

Then his mind flashed to how he'd wound up in the position he was in. Then he remembered, he'd been working alone with his intern Kari in the medward storage closet, Menda had gone home earlier that evening to rest until she was needed when a distress call came over the radio from someone stuck in the only surviving forest on Mars. After Kari's older Brother JT came to pick her up and take her home,he swiftly jotted a note to Menda who would be coming back on shift that he had responded to an emergency call from someone in the forest, catching a ride from his brother in law Alex, Terrence gave him the directions to the location of the distress call then told him to carry on and he'd call when his job there was done. Half way up the path, far out of sight from the road way, Terrence was hit in the back of the head with a large rock that knocked him out cold. When he awoke, Terrence found himself locked in a room that appeared to be doorless and decided that the throbbing in his head wasn't going to go away unless he went to sleep and tried to sleep it off. 

Terrence jerks awake after the trial flashes before his eyes and the door to the medward is slammed shut,then he slows his breathing down and lays on his back and thinks to himself as he replays the scene of his rescue one late night: I wonder if Crystal is into making muffins from scratch? I'm hopless in that department. Maybe she can give me a few pointers as to what I'm doing wrong. (Catches himself thinking of his family and says to himself) Terrence Cley! Listen to yer thoughts! You promised yourself not to let thoughts of Crystal and the kids make you homesick! Now stop thinking of the way you treated them or else you'll break down in tears! I wonder who the new Midnight Warrior really is. (Remembers the face and voice then thinks) Could it possibly be that Alexis's the Midnight Warrior? I've seen her in a bikini and I know the feel of every single curve on that body. (Puts two and two together and says) Of course! Alexis is the midnight warrior! No Alexis is much too young to be the Midnight Warrior! She can't lift me without getting hurt! Besides,she's barely even fifteen years old. If I want to ever be able to ask her to help me bake from scratch, I've gotta stop getting tongue tied and come out with a simple "Crystal baby,I was hoping you'd be able to help me with a problem I've been having. You see baby, Im having problems making muffins,cookies, biscuits and muffins from scratch, think you could help me figure out what I'm doing wrong?" (Goes back to sleep and slips into peaceful dreams until he's awakened by the voice over the intercom) 

Voice over the intercom: Rise and shine ya louse! Time fer yer mornin feedin! You'll never guess what's for breakfast today!

Terrence awakens and groans saying: Ohh,what the heck time is it? (Checks his alarm clock to see it was only nine a.m. and says) Nine a.m. already! Whoa! It was only two a.m. a few minutes ago! Wow,time flies when yer asleep. (Groans and feels queazy saying) Soggy brown rice mixed with milk and oatmeal with unsanitary water. 

Voice over the intercom: Soggy brown rice mixed with milk and oatmeal with unsanitary water! (Chuckles and says)Enjoy yer meal, it just might be yer last one on this side of the border between life and death. (Intercom goes dead with one last hiss of static)

Terrence hears the door sliding back into place and gets up out of bed and goes over to the ledge where the tray was and picks it up and walks back to his bed,removes the lid and starts to eat thinking: Hmm,mmm, I haven't eaten this much food in nine months! Hmm,mm god this is delicious! A nice sized breakfrast for me to fill up my empty stomach. Someone must've known what I've been yearning for! (Continues eating his breakfast until everything on all the plates was gone and he was finishing off his hot chocolate, saving his hot coffee for after he'd digested his big breakfast)

A few minutes later, feeling drowzy from the effects of his full stomach, Terrence sat the tray on the night stand beside his bed and laid down to take a nap. What felt like two hours later but was really fortyfive minutes after he'd eaten,a tapping at the sliding french doors caught his attention and he almost fell off of the bed when he seen his mate on the otherside.

Terrence gets off of the bed in a hurry and darts over to the french doors,unlocked them and slid them back allowing Crystal to step into his warm open arms as he said in a low whisper after giving her the kiss of her life: Crystal! What're you doing here and how did you find me? My god are you alright? You're not hurt are you?  
Crystal nestles further into Terrence's arms,lays her head on his heart and sighs contentedly saying in a low whisper: No, I'm not hurt. I'm perfectly fine. I came to give you some necessities. Alex told me he dropped you off here nine months ago and never seen or heard from you since. (Starts to feel tired from her long ignored fever and says) I've gotta go before they see me! I've evaded the security camera's and burglar alarm systems. (Steps back,reaches up and lays her hand on his cheek saying) Please, come back to me safe

Terrence removes her small hand from his cheek,nods and says while holding her small hands in his and reading her hurt filled eyes: You could've been killed or worse and we've only been married what nine years? I don't want to start saying my good byes to you just yet. Not until Ares himself says it's time for you to leave and go with him. (Picks up on sick vibes and lays his skilled hand under her bangs and feeling heat from a fever he says)You're running a fever and I can tell you're not as strong as you'd like to be! What in the name of Ares do you think you're doing out of bed?

Crystal: I couldn't stand to be cooped up all day! I felt fine when I woke up this morning. I've been in bed for three days straight! I'm sick of being in bed! (Hands Terrence his statchel saying) Here hon,take this before I forget and take it back home with me.

Terrence nods and takes the statchel from Crystal's hands and says: Regardless of wether or not you're sick of being in bed, that's where you should be when you're running a fever! Go home and straight to bed! I mean it! You're over exerting yourself by ignoring your fever! Now go on! And before you leave, promise me that you will NEVER come here alone again! The last thing I need is for you to be captured as well!

Crystal takes a deep breath and unable to avoid Terrence's eyes she says: I promise never to pull this stunt alone ever again. Though Arrence is outside in the thick bushes hiding and waiting for me, I'm not really here on my own.

Terrence nods,lets go of Crystal's hands and says: Please darling, be careful. I don't want to loose you just yet. One last thing before you leave hon

Crystal reaches into her pocket and pulls out photocopies of Kristin's diary and says: Here, these are copies of every page in Kristin's diary that partain to Throttlerian's kidnapping and what happened that night. She can't let you have the original diary because of personal things that are written in the blue section which is the front of the diary.

Terrence: No, that's not it! 

Crystal: I know you're worried about Sierra, she's fine. She can handle things herself. She knows they're after her and can careless.

Terrence feels relief wash down over him saying: It's not me they're after, I'm just collateral

Crystal confused: What do they want with Sierra? She's the strongest guardian around. Having a powerful High Priest for an adoptive father and trainer has made her stronger than normal. Sierra can handle herself.

Terrence: I have no idea what they want with Sierra, I'm beginning to think it has to do with the jewel she wears on her clothes.

Crystal: No one except the weilder of the crystal's magic can use the magic. She never wears it on her neck, that what you see on her tops and vests is just a patch she made using jewel colored threads. Sierra rarely if ever wears her crystal, she doesn't need to. The person raising her in place of her dad has trained her to be able to tap into her own magic without resorting to using her crystal. Sierra is being trained to be able to call on her abilities without using her crystal. Our Crystals are just amplifiers that amplify our abilities and hide our true identities from outsiders. Her adoptive father is a powerful Magician with the patience of a saint to be doing what he's been doing with her. He's been raising Sierra as his own child since she was three years old, no one knows where Teddy is being held, the Crystal Hunters don't want the crystal, they want to manipulate the weilder of the magic and that's what they're doing to Sierra's father. Teddy's a Genie-Gardener with Flora and Fauna magic and a powerful chemist. He has wish granting magic and they have the Ruby Amulet

Terrence: What the hell is the Ruby Amulet?!

Crystal: Every Genie's worst nightmare, it means unlimited wishes and he has no choice but to grant them no matter how evil the wish is, Teddy will have to grant it. When he hits the crescendo of exhaustion and collapses, they have to stop and let him rest. Unless he was smart and took off all his jewllery taking him down to his natural abilities. Here's to hoping he doesn't have his Jewellery on! (Hears the faint whirring of a hidden camera,faintly raises her crystalline magic to jam and erase the recordings and says) I have to go, the medication I took earlier is starting to kick in and make me tired.

Terrence nods,takes the photocopies from Crystal then leans down and kisses her once more before letting her slip out the door so she could be on her way to safety then shuts and locks the window as if nothing had happened. 

Then Terrence goes into the bathroom, runs himself a nice hot bath,opens the medicine cabinet puts his dental care products into the cabinet then shuts it and changes out of his dirty clothes and slips into the nice hot water and begins to bath himself.

An hour later, after having a nice hot bubble bath to wash his fur and hair,Terrence got up out of the tub,pulled the plug to let the water drain out,grabbed his towel and dried off. Then brushed out his fur using his tail to brush out the fur on his back then got dressed in his clean clothes and using the three large pieces of wood and the old scrub board he'd found, he filled one part of the tub with soap,bleach, and hot water and the second he filled with clean warm water and the third with cold rinse water and began to wash his dirty clothes until all of his personal belongings had been washed, rinsed,wrung out and sat aside while he finished with the rest of his clothes then he removed the plug and three pieces of wood and allowed the water to mix together while it emptied out and he hung his wet clothes up to dry. Then he took one look at the filth left in the tub and dug around under the sink until he found something to clean the tub with and a scrub sponge and began to clean the filth from the tub until it was nice and clean again. Then he put everything back,stood up at the sink and began disinfecting his hands with the antiseptic soap Crystal had left for him in the stachel along with his night clothes and a picture of her and his family that he sat on the night stand beside his bed so he'd be able to look at his beloved family before going to bed and when he woke up each day.

12:00 p.m.

The door once again was opened and another tray was set on the serving sideboard with plates that were piled up with all his favourite foods and a note from his unknown food provider.

Terrence gets up off his bed,goes over to the side board,picks up his tray,takes it back over to his bed,sits it on the folding tray,removes the lid,starts eating his lunch and spies a piece of familiar stationary,picks up then reads the note thinking: MMM! Someone's finally coming to free me from this dungeon! (Recognizes the hand writing and thinks) It's familiar hand writing and they say to do everything they say to do and when the night's a second away from becoming morning, Pike and someothers are comming to rescue me! Oh thank god some one knows where I am besides Crystal! (Hears the voice again stating he had twenty five minutes to brush his teeth and rinse his mouth before they came to interrogate him over and over again until he broke down in tears pleading to them to let him go home,gets up after finishing his meal. Before he's guided down the hall and down a few stairs, the abductors yank a blindfold over his eyes to keep him in the dark then Terrence is roughly shoved down the hall and down a few short stairs then is yanked into the windowless, dark den where he is firmly and tightly bound to the usual chair he'd been sitting in every afternoon for the last nine months then his blindfold was removed after he was secured tightly.)

IN THE WINDOWLESS DARK DEN

  
Clarence sees Terrence is firmly bound to the torture chair and begins his torturous questioning: Alright then, before we begin (cracks Terrence across the face hard enough to draw blood saying) How stupid do you think I am?! Did you HONESTLY think no one would know about your visitors? Or about you unlocking the sliding glass doors in the room you’re in? Did you think that I wouldn’t put hidden camera’s in the walls to keep an eye on you?!

Terrence feels the dread wash over him and studders: C-cameras? I-I haven’t seen any cameras anywhere in my room at all!

Clarence cracks Terrence across the face once more saying: Of course you CAN’T see the hidden camera’s! They’re so small they blend into the wall paper on the wall! That’s how I know about your ‘special’ visitor just a few hours ago!

Terrence feels his heart drop and fear rise up and says: You're worried about a stray cat coming to visit me?

Clarence: A Cat? Those fools are all worked up over a stray cat?!

Terrence: That's right, a stray cat comes by every so often just to visit and keep me company

Clarence: Now onto t’days torture. You've had the worst interrogation last night? T'days going to be longer, tougher and harder and I won't stop until you've watched every boring video, film strip, slide show and documentary we have in our library then we'll really make you squirm and beg to be allowed to go home.

Terrence feels the dread wash over him knowing that he had no choice but to sit and watch what they played for hours on end.

A few minutes later before the first documentary began, he felt a collar being yanked around his throat and up around his forehead and fastened around the back of the chair to prevent him from looking away as he begins to think to himself: Terrence, you won't be able to make it through all these videos without trying to get free! Your mind can't absorb this much material in hours! You'll have to take alot of time off to regain your knowledge of civilization outside of this house and these two rooms. They don't exactly give you your favourite reading materials but someone's been watching over you and has sent you a basket of your favourite books that you haven't gotten a chance to sit down and read. Oh no, the first documentary's about to begin! (Begins to strain against his tight bonds praying that they'd snap,only to be reminded that the ropes were too stiff and strong to snap.)

Giving into the torture, Terrence watched everything that they made him watch and answered every question until his mind drew a complete blank and they untied him,yanked the blindfold back over his eyes then dragged him back to his room,removed the blindfold then threw him inside watching as his head came in contact with the wall then watched as he landed on his bed then shut the door and went on with their lives laughing all the way down the hall and down the stairs to the lower level of the house. 

Once they'd left, Terrence's blocked up head finally became clear as he focused on a note stuck to the window of the patio

Terrence gets up and slowly and hesitantly walked over to the doors and reached around, picked the note off the door and read it out loud: Hmm,b rdy fr rsc t mdnght. rgnl pln t rrv t lvn fld d t mchncl flr nd prsnl cmmtmnts. (Moves away from the window,goes over to his bed,sits down, opens a hidden drawer in the nightstand from which he removed a pad of paper and a pen and starts to translate the the voweless note saying) Hmm if I'm translating this correctly,it should read: be ready for rescue at midnight. Original plan to arrive at eleven failed due to mechanical failure and personal commitments. (Rereads his translation and says) Yeah that's what it reads alright. (Looks up from the note and thinks) Ohh,thank god she returned home safe and unharmed! (Sets the note,letter pad and pen away,then lays down to ease the throbbing in his head.)

What seemed like a few minutes later,but in actuality was seven o'clock,Terrence heard the door slide open and a metal tray being set down on a metal serving ledge. With the pain in his head still throbbing, Terrence slowly got up off the bed,went over to check under the dome to find two dishes of pipping hot lasagna fresh from the oven, a 1 litre bottle of diet pepsi,a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip muffins,a large triple chocolate fudge layer cake and cookies, a sandwich bag incase he got full and couldn't eat his muffins,cake and cookies,a bowl of rich creamy chocolate chocolate chip ice cream and some anacids incase he got a stomach ache along with a nice tall glass of chocolate milk and two tea pots full of freshly brewed coffee and herbal tea with honey,brown sugar, cinnamon and fresh goat's milk just the way he liked it. That's when he spotted the note nestled in amongst the muffins, unfolded it and read the message and noted that somewhere someone had placed a bookbag for him to use then picked up and carried the tray over to his bed,sat it down and was about to cut the lasagna when he noticed that it was already cut so he gently lifted a large piece and sat it on his plate,then poured himself a cup of nice hot herbal tea and added a splash of goats milk and started eating his supper putting his muffins and cookies into the stand up bag provided for him then goes on eating the lasagna until half the small pasta dish remained and he carefully wrapped tinfoil over it to keep it nice and hot then finished his herbal tea. Suddenly his foot got caught in something that he pulled out and recognized as a medward battle field backpack with a note stating to fill it up with the leftover food and drinks so he'd have something to eat on the way home. As soon as he'd finished his tea, Terrence filled the backpack with the food and sat it up on his bed and put his dry clean clothes into it along with everything he brought in from the bathroom- his face cloth was put into a bag along with his soap, his shampoo, mouth wash bottles, toothpaste, toothbrush went into it's container and into a hidden compartment that was quickly filled up,then he folded his towel placed it in the bottom of the bag and began to carefully situate everything else ontop of it to make sure the weight was nice and even leaving his books and amusement inside the small cloth statchel that fourteen year old Trey made for him from one of his old medward shirts he gave him to tear up.

A few minutes later, Terrence had everything packed and ready to go at eleven, taking one long look around, Terrence decided to take the alarm clock that was sitting on the table when he came back from the first night of torture knowing that it was Trey's favourite alarm clock that hadn't been packed and sat it in the stachel and says to himself: Hmm,everything is packed and I'm rare and ready to get outta here and go home. Pike's going out of his mind with worry about my safety, I can feel his worry and practically hear his thoughts. (Glances at the watch that Alexis slaved to be able to buy him for father's day,sets the alarm for ten fiftyfive and says) Hmm,not bad timing! I've got another five hours before I break outta here and head home. (Heaves a yawn, lays back down on the bed,switches off the lamp then stretches out, becomes comfortable and instantly falls asleep so he'd be well rested when his rescue crew arrived at midnight.)

At exactly eleven fifty five, Terrence's watch alarm went off and he slipped off the bed being sure to fix the covers and picked up the back pack that he slid on his back and picked up his statchel,turned off the lights, and waited for who ever was coming to spring him from his prison.

  
When twelve o'clock rolled around, Terrence seen a black shadow jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone avoiding the trapped ones until the shadow was right outside the patio doors and cut the wires that were linked to the back up security system and the back up back up back up back up system making sure nothing was left running on electricity before opening the doors that had been replaced with doors that locked from the outside and letting Terrence out

.  
Once Terrence was out, the silent rescuer took his statchel and carefully opened his pack and stuck it in then shut it and they both took off running down the path towards the rescue vehicle that was waiting. Once they were close to the vehicle, Terrence seen that it was a rennovated camper that was larger and wider than a normal camper was,opened the door and stepped inside welcoming the feel of his long lost freedom and setting down the heavy bag. When he stepped in further, his brother greeted him with a tight hug that lasted for almost thirty minutes before he let him go.

  
Pike releases his brother and says in a low tone of voice only Terrence could pick up on: Are you alright bro? You look exhausted! Come on and lay down and get some sleep. It'll be a long trip back to base where the rest of your clan's waiting for you to come back home.

  
Terrence nods and says: Yes Pike, I'm fine. I'd hoped to have gotten a little more sleep before my alarm went off. I guess I still feel a little bit tired.  
Pike: Do I smell Lasagna,Cookies,Muffins and the works in that bag of yours?

  
Terrence nods,opens it to remove the light statchel,the lamp,his clothes and finally removes the food and drink saying: Yeah, I've still got an entire pan left over,along with hot chocolate, tea, coffe,pop,chocolate milk if you prefer, cookies, muffins and a huge cake I found before I left. Want some? (Hears his brother's stomach rumble and says) You left before eating anything? Not too bright Arrence, if your sugar levels get too low,you could pass out from hunger. Sit and I'll give ya something to eat to keep you going. (Removes the tinfoil from over top of the pan of lasagna then removes several plates and puts a big hefty slice on a plate that he gave to his brother to eat for his supper and says after sitting down to eat with his brother) How's Crystal doing? Did she make it back home alright and go straight to bed the way I told her to?

  
Pike nods,swallows his lasagna and says: Hmm,yeah she's fine. Yes she went straight to bed, Terrance made sure she went to bed and went to sleep. Her twin doesn't take her health to lightly! Nothing to worry about. Besides, she didn't arrive alone. I was with her when we rode by,she said she had a funny feeling that you were in that house in the back bedroom. But we continued back to base where she packed you clean clothes and we doubled back and I hid in the overgrown tree shadows so that no one would be able to see me. Mmm, nothin like my sister in law and neice's lasanga.

  
Terrence chokes on his lasagna and says: How'd you know that this is Crystal's cooking?

  
Pike swallows and says: Do you know of anyone else who uses six thick layers of mozzarella and cheddar cheese in their lasanga besides mother who's dead? By the way  
Terrence shakes his head and says: No,not really. What?

  
Pike takes another huge forkful of lasagna and stuffs it into his mouth saying: Well then you've got yer answer right there. Your mate and daughters made this lasagna. Have you come to a decision in regards to you know who's suspension?

  
Terrence heaves a sigh and says: No, I haven't come to a decision yet. Matter of fact, I'd forgotten all about it until you'd just mentioned it. (Heaves a sigh and says) This sort of thing takes time to consider. There are other people involved in this matter that I have to conference with, I know I'm the head but I do have to take other people's thoughts,feelings and comfort levels into careful consideration before I do anything about her suspension. For now until I go back to work, it stands. There is nothing I want to do about it right now. Matter of fact, I don't even want to see or hear from her until I go back to work in a few weeks time. The only time I ever want to be in contact with her is during my class time, beyond that she knows I don't want to be in contact with her.

  
Pike carefully chooses how to phrase his next set of thoughts and says: How would you feel if others decided to extend an olive branch in forgiveness to her for their mistakes and misunderstandings and how about we start using their name for a change? I personally have forgiven them for a mistake that was made. No one is holding a grudge against Phoenix anymore, no one holds her responsible for what happened. A mistake was made, a punishment was hastily issued and she abided by the hasty decision to suspend her from work. Phoenix has had no contact with anyone, she hasn't even attempted to contact anyone from work, any and all fears of harassment from her were eased when she didn't show up the first day of suspension. Then one day, one of the other doctors got everyone together in the conference room where we sat down and talked to her face to face and aired any and all concerns they had then asked any questions they might have had and got open,honest, truthful and to the point answers from Phoenix. Including where she's really from and why haven't they ever seen her on base before. Guess no one ever paid much attention to what goes on around us, otherwise we'd have realized she was among us from the start trying to help where she could. I'm only sorry I got caught up in the hysteria of thinking she was the traitor the Military was looking for, hell I even took her file to Carbine and gave her my theory that Phoenix was the traitor. 

  
Terrence heaves a sigh and pokes at his lasagna saying: Those were my thoughts as well. I put up a wall to keep myself safe from percieved threats from her, I only now wish I had taken the opportunity to try and get to know her before I hurled accusations at her. Though what I'm referring to deals with something that is between me,three other male doctors and Phoenix. That suspension cannot be lifted, I can careless about the others deciding to lift their suspensions

  
Pike: The other three doctors were involved in this conference with Phoenix. One of them even gathered his courage to look at her and point blank asked her if she was the one that sexually assaulted him in the towel room.  
Terrence puts his fork down and massages his temples saying with a cross between a groan and sigh saying: Of course she answered with a sickening smile 'it was a delight to service you'  
Pike horrified at his brother's train of thought reaches into his satchel,pulls out his tablet, sets the stand up,turns it on and lets it lean saying: There's something you should watch  
Terrence: What would that be?

Pike sets up the video saying: Orion recorded the meeting for you to watch when you returned and since he's one of the doctors that was assaulted, no better word, RAPED, it took all of his courage to stand up and ask what he did. (Sees the spot where Orion stood up and says) Ah, here we go. Watch from here until the end of the meeting and you'll start to see Phoenix in a new light and as a different person than the person you think she is. (Taps the play button to start the video feed)

Terrence watches the entire video without judgment then quietly says: Perhaps I jumped to the wrong conclusion. This whole time I had come to the conclusion that she was a sick pervert out to fufill her sick fantasies with men who want nothing to do with her. I was so certained that she was the one behind the unwanted attacks that left Orion and two other men badly traumatized. It took a good solid three hours to get the story out of them, maybe I should have listened carefully rather than jump to conclusions about who did it, then Phoenix wouldn't have been targeted as a suspect and her suspension wouldn't have ever happened. I'll admit now more than ever that I was in the wrong for what I said and for the actions I took that day. The assaults took place during class time and there were placement exams going on that day. (Heaves a sigh saying) There's no way for Phoenix to have done this as she was writing placement exams to determine if she qualified for advance placement. I never marked her exams period, I purposly hid them in my top desk drawer so I wouldn't have to deal with her. Maybe now's the time I apologized to her and marked her work so her grades can be registered and that's a boatload of work to get done during my down time. She's waited long enough for me to get my act together and admit I was wrong.

Pike: If you wanted, I can get her on the line for you to talk to her as I do have her number.

Terrence: Please tell me you didn't go through my table drawers!

Pike: No! I still haven't figured out how to turn off the sync feature on this thing. Her phone was on the table right next to mine and my phone's syncing feature synced her phone number to my phone and my number to hers, apparently everyone in the room's phone number is now registered on Phoenix's cell phone. Well everyone except you, that's your choice.

Terrence: No thank you! I'm not interested in hearing teenage gossip while working. I have to keep my mind on what I'm doing. If everyone else wants to sit and listen to teenage gossip, that's their personal choice. I don't want that problem nor do I wish to sit and chat with her any longer than necessary. 

Pike: So, do you want to talk to her? No I should phrase that differently, do you feel comfortable talking to her over the phone?

Terrence: No, not right now. My train of thought is on Crystal and my family that's it. I don't want to talk to Phoenix right at the moment. My comfort level isn't that high with her, as it was before all this happened, I was ready to kill her.

Pike: Bro, Phoenix is harmless. She's just a teenager in an adult world she didn't ask to be in and your attitude towards her is hurtful. Maybe you should start journalling your feelings to sort them out. Is your anger because you miss Sierra being around or is it because you feel deep down that Sierra betrayed your trust and friendship when she left and moved to the country on Earth with Rimfire shortly after she got married? You were invited to their wedding but chose not to go or send a gift to her, I mean when you married Crystal she sent you a wedding gift carefully chosen from your gift registry list and she also sent one to Crystal from her gift registry list. I may have figured it out, you think this girl is Sierra because she has Phoenix in her name and the more pressure you put on this Phoenix, the more you think she'll stop being an ass and start being Sierra am I right?

Terrence: I-I never thought of it that way before. (Finally feels a connection being made says) Oh that poor girl! I've spent this whole time thinking she was Sierra instead of a whole other person! I still have a boat load of tests,projects, papers and presentations to grade! 

takes another bite out of his lasagna and chews then chokes causing Pike to become alarmed  
Pike reaches around and smacks his brother's back saying: What's gotten you so riled up?  
Terrence manages to swallow his stuck lasagna with a swig of herbal tea and says: Crystal! That's what's gotten me so riled up Pike! I'm more worried about her blood pressure being too high from her ignoring the fever she has! (Carefully rewraps the lasagna and gives it and the one litre bottle of Pepsi to Arrence to polish off while repacking his clothes and the remaining drinks, cookies, muffins and the cake so he'd be ready when he arrived home)  
Pike stands up and heads towards the front of the camper and speaks with Alex then comes back and says: Not to worry, we're almost there and Alex just got off the phone with Mike and her blood pressure is fine,it's no where near the danger zone and her fever is moderately high. She says not to worry, just take your time eating and she'll be fine until you get home.  
Alex calls out: Hey we're home! Pack up and head out we're being expected. I can by pass the crowds and get you straight to your front door step instead if you want me to.  
Terrence stands up and heads towards the front of the camper and speaks with Alex saying: If you could possibly get me right home, I'd appreciate it more than I can say Alex.  
Alex nods and says: No problemo. (Picks up his two way radio and speaks directly to Carbine saying) Think you can clear us a pathway? Terrence wants to go straight home to be by Crystal's side. (Listens to the reply and watches as the small but thick crowd is forced to split into two large pieces and he continues his journey to Terrence's home where he dropped him off saying) Call and let me know if she doesn't stay in bed,someone will be very upset if she doesn't stay in bed!  
Terrence opens the door of the camper,nods then leaves saying: I will Alex. If she doesn't stay in bed and rest the way she should I'll let you know and you can do what ever you want to her since she is your sister. (Shuts the door and darts up the path and takes out his key only to have Hailley open the door for him and give him a tight hug that he returns saying) What in the name of Ares are you doing up past your bedtime? You've got school in the morning and it's way late, time for you to be in bed sleeping,not still up! (Walks in then shuts his front door, locks it and with his arms around his step children,he enters the living room to find Crystal laying back on the couch,drops to his knees and says) Hey, I'm home hon, how's things going?  
Crystal opens her eyes and says: Fine, nothing to worry about. The fever fizzled out over time and I'm just a bit tired from cleaning.  
Terrence: It's gone? The fever's gone already? I don't get it! You were so hot when I last held you I was sure it'd take a few days to fizzle out.  
Crystal smiles and says: No, I guess its one of those fevers that shows up for a while and after it wears it's welcome out it leaves. Had them all the time when I was a kid, nothing to worry about. I was just over dressed. (Looks at her kids who were exhausted and says) It's high time for you guys all to get to bed and get some well deserved sleep. It's past your bedtime anyways, so upstairs and into bed with the lot of you. The rest of you older ones have school in the morning so you have to be up early.  
Terrence stands up and hugs each of his kids as they file out of the living room and upstairs to bed then says to Crystal: Here love, let me help you up so you and I can go upstairs and go to bed for the night. I'm exhausted! (Notices little Caitie was sound asleep in the chair and says) Hold a minute, someone didn't go up to bed yet. (Goes over to his favourite chair and picks up a sleeping Caitie saying) Cm'on Catie,lets get you upstairs and into bed for the night. It's past your bedtime. Can you handle getting up on your own?  
Crystal slowly manages to get into a sitting postion then slowly stood up and said: Yeah I'm fine on my own. (silently thinks) I should’ve come home and gone straight to bed but there was no one to fill Terry’s shoes while he was gone. Everyone was busy and I was on my own to keep the house from spinning into utter chaos. Now that I’ve got a fever everyone has time to stop and help out but when I REALLY needed them the most they had excuse after excuse not to stop by and help me out while I rested and tried to get over this fever. Oh wait there were only four people who actually stopped by to help me out. Thank god for Archer who stopped by while I attempted to rest and they kept things going without me.  
Terrence nods and says: Thank you for all the food you secretly brought me. Every last bit of it was delicious. Especially the lasagnas, I ate the smallest one and split the larger one with Pike who begged me to let him have the rest of it for his supper. Cm'on hon, lets go on upstairs so you can go to bed and be comfortable when the time comes. (Walks at a reasonable pace so that Crystal could keep up with him and they both carefully walk up the stairs to their room where Terrence helps Crystal into bed saying) I'm gonna go and put Caitie here in her own room so she can get a good night's sleep for once. (Leaves his room and goes down the hall to Caitie and Callie's room where he walks in, goes over to her sleigh bed with reversible teddy bear covers, folds them back,lays her down then places her teddy bear into her arms and pulls the covers up and around her throat to keep her warm,kisses her gloden blonde hair,shuts off her light and leaves her room, keeping the door open a crack so he'd be able to check in on her if something felt wrong and headed back to his room where he said to Crystal) Well,Caitie is in bed and sound asleep, so I'm gonna go and have myself a nice hot bath before I join you in bed love, will you be alright with out me?  
Crystal smiles and says: I've been alright since the day you disappeared.   
Terrence removes his pack,opens it and starts removing his clothes followed by the food that was still on the bottom of the bag then removes his toiletries from the hidden compartment, opens his drawer and puts his clean clothes in it and pulls out a pair of his most comfortable pyjamas then heads into the bathroom where he runs himself a nice hot bath and gets cleaned up. After twenty minutes,his water started going cold,so he pulled the plug out to drain the water,got out of the tub,dried himself off,got dressed then went and prerinsed then brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth out, put his toilitries away in the spacious medicine cabinet and turning off the bathroom light, he went into the bedroom, lifted his side of the covers,sat on the edge of his comfortable bed then laid down swinging his body all the way under the covers letting them fall over top of him,reached over to turn off the light and kissed Crystal saying: Wake me if Callie or Caitie needs me to scare off the boogey man alright?  
Crystal smiles,nestles close to Terrence,lays her head on his chest and sleepily says: Mmmhmm, I will don't worry your exhausted head over it. Now good night and sweet dreams. Did you ever get a chance to read the photocopies I gave you?  
Terrence sleepily: No,not yet. I plan on doing that first thing tomorrow while the younger kids are down for their afternoon nap, I'll sit and read through the entries and findout what's going on that she can't remember.  
3:00 a.m.  
Crystal awakens,gets up to go to the bathroom to do her duty then comes out and goes across the hall to check on Caitlin and Callie only to find them both sound asleep and goes back to her room where she found Terrence coming out of the bathroom on his way back to bed.  
Terrence sees Crystal coming back in to their room and groggily says: Are they alright?  
Crystal: Yeah still asleep not a peep out of either of them. Maybe they're adjusting to the thought of sleeping in their own room with the lights dimmed. Pretty soon they'll hopefully be able to sleep without the lights on at night.  
Terrence: It would be nice for them to be able to sleep without the light on at night.   
Crystal: That night light that I plug in at night is on a timer that shuts off after a few hours. (lays down and instantly falls into a deep sleep leaving Terrence to take a closer look at her face)  
Terrence quietly thinks: I know damned well she’s bluffing when she says her fever’s gone! Her fever isnt gone no matter what she says! I think it’s time I checked and found out the truth that she’s not telling me. (Reaches into the nightstand on his side of the bed and pulls out the digital thermometer and puts a tip on the end then turns it on and slides it into Crystal’s ear canal careful not to wake her then sees the red light go to green and removes it to read the temperature and heaves a sigh thinking) Crystal, Crystal, Crystal! Crystal , sweetheart I know it was rough while I was gone but ignoring your body’s cries that it’s battling something, won’t make you better! You’re staying in bed and since I have someone filling my shoes for a while, I’ll be staying home to look after and ensure you don’t get up out of bed! Not with a fever of 110! (Puts the thermometer away in the drawer and shuts off his lamp and instantly falls asleep until his alarm was about to go off at 5:30 A.M. until he quickly shut it off preferring to leave Crystal in dream land and looks at Crystal thinking) Hmm poor thing not many people had enough time to stop their lives and help Crystal out while she tried to get some rest. (Gets up out of bed then heads into the bathroom to get showered then got dressed and ensured the elder kids were up and getting ready for school.)  
After ensuring everyone who needed to be up was up, Terrence went downstairs and started getting lunches ready,waking the elder children up to get them ready for school, checking homework to ensure it had been completed,reminders of groundings that had been written on the reminder board and making breakfast then putting lunches in back packs before they went out the door and siging permission slips for field trips to earth’s museums and got his hugs good bye and shut the door as the last child left for school and went about putting dishes in the dishwasher and feeding the animals then checked the medicine walk in closet to see what he had in terms of fever reducers.  
Terrence unlocks the door to the Medicine Closet, opens the door and walks in looking to the left and right for anything to reduce a fever then notices a box of Tylenol Fever Reducer and pulls it out of the Cabinet then shuts and locks the door muttering: Just what I’ve been hoping I had! This’ll bring down Crystal’s fever. I’d give her Advil Fever Reducer but she can’t stomach Advil so I guess she’ll just have to take two table spoons of this every four hours until her fever is gone. (leaves the medicine closet,shuts then locks the door and heads into the kitchen for a table spoon from the dishwasher then heads up to his bedroom where he went over to the bed and said) Crystal, wake up sweetie. I’ve got something for your fever that’ll make you feel better.  
Crystal opens her groggy eyes,sits up and says: Huh? It came back?  
Terrence opens the Tylenol box and pulls out the bottle of Fever Reducer then twists open the cap,set it aside then carefully and steadily poured an even table spoon of syrup and said: It came back with a vengence last night. I checked and it’s sitting at 110* about 102* on human terms. Take this,it’ll reduce your fever this is one of two spoonfuls you’ll get every four hours until your fever has gone. (Gives Crystal the spoonful of Fever Reducer then positions the spoon back under the top of the bottle and pours out another table spoon and gives it to Crystal to take then opens the nightstand drawer and pulls out two band aids,shuts the drawer,sets the spoon down while he unwrapped the band aid then removed the protective covering from the band aids and wrapped one around the spoon and one on her glass saying) From here on out anything you eat off of and drink out of will have a mark on it to signal others not to eat or drink from the dishes. I’ll go down and make you something to eat, as for now lay down and get some rest ok?  
Crystal lays back and easily falls back into her comfortable sleep  
Terrence tucks the covers up around her throat and brushes her bangs out of her eyes then gets up and goes downstairs to find Caitie,Callie,Jarred and Max flopped out on the couch watching cartoons and says: Oh you’re up, alright then who wants what for breakfast and who wants what to drink and who wants what to drink out of?  
Caitlin: We wants ghosts and Sunshine to dwink.  
Terrence: Alright Count Chocula and Sunny D to drink and your usual dishes to eat and drink out of. (Opens the cupboard and pulls out all the bowls and cups then opens the drawer and pulls out the matching spoons to go with the bowls and cups then opens the cereal pantry and pulls out the container with Count Chocula in it,opens then pours equal amounts into all five bowls then puts the container back and opens the fridge for the milk and Sunny D jug,pours milk over the ceral then pours juice into all five cups and grabs five more bowls and fills them up with mixed fruit pouring milk over the fruit and finally pulls out a tray and loads everything onto it and carrys it into the living room saying) Okey here you go, here’s breakfast. Mom wants you guys to start having fruit and milk with your cereal and juice from now on so you’ll get a bowl of fruits and milk with every meal including your bedtime snack. Now eat up while I take Crystal up her breakfast. (Goes back into the kitchen and with a red permanent waterproof marker he makes a red X on each of her dishes and puts red tape on the spoons then loads up another tray and carefully takes it up to a soundly sleeping Crystal saying) Crystal hon, sit up. I’ve got your breakfast ready for you.  
Crystal opens her groggy eyes,sits up and says: Huh? Oh breakfast,right. What time is it?  
Terrence: Twenty after eight in the morning. Everyone’s gone and the little ones are watching cartoons and eating their breakfasts downstairs  
Crystal slowly begins to eat her breakfast when their phone rang  
Terrence: Nuhuh, I want you to stay in bed. I’ll get it downstairs, you eat. (Heads back downstairs and grabs the phone on the third ring and after a short conversation heads back upstairs to his room where he said) I’ll be back in a few minutes. I have to go to Earth and pick someone up who got themselves into trouble and is in a heap of it with me when I get there to pick ‘em up. So you rest until I get back alright?  
Crystal nods and says: I’ll be alright until you get back. I have no plans on going anywhere until you get back and I’m feeling better.  
Terrence: Alright then, I shouldn’t be more than an hour or two. I’ll try to be back before lunch hour then. (Drops a kiss ontop of Crystal’s head and heads out the bedroom and to the transporter room where he was instantly transported to earth)  
A few minutes later Terrence arrived at St.Vincent’s High to pick up his daughter whom he had been told was in major trouble only to find she wasn’t in trouble but sick to her stomach with a stomach virus that was going around and she had caught.  
Terrence walks in the front doors and says: Hey, come on hon, let’s get you home and into bed so you can rest.  
Sakura grabs her school hat and bag then heads out the door with her dad heading back to the Timberwolf house where she left a note for her team manager who had been her aunt Kristin’s manager saying she had gone back to Mars sick with the stomach flu and headed down to the sub basement with her dad.  
Once they had arrived on Mars they headed straight for their family quarters where she went straight to her room,changed out of her school uniform flopping it on the chair in the corner of her room after pulling her dad’s old medward shirt down over her head and crawled into bed and waited for her dad to come in and give her something for her stomach.  
Terrence sticks his head in Sakura’s room and says: Oh good you’re in bed. (Walks over to her bed and sits down beside her and says) I don’t have much to give you for a stomach virus except some Antibiotics so I’ll start you on these until the virus has worked it’s way out of your system. (Gives Sakura two Antibiotic caplets and watched as she drained the entire glass of water then stands up saying as he tucked her covers up around her throat) You rest and I’ll make you up a batch of hot Chicken Noodle Soup alright? You rest for now. (Kisses the top of Sakura’s black bangs then opens her nightstand drawer and pulls out the sick bell and says) You want me? ring the bell alright?  
Sakura faintly: Alright. (falls into a deep sleep)  
Terrence turns off Sakura’s lamp and leaves her room and heads downstairs to check on the little kids and found them watching a Care Bear Movie and decided to get out the gentech digital thermometer to check Sakura’s temperature to see for himself if it was normal as the school nurse stated it was and heads back up to Sakura’s room,quietly opens the door that he left adjar then quietly slipped over to her bed noticing the red flush across her face and the fact that her covers were tausled meaning she’d gotten up to vomit then slipped the thermometer into her left ear and waited for a reading then removed it and checked it thinking: Normal my ass! This isn’t summer flu! This is a full blown case of Stomach Virus not Summer Flu or food poisoning ! I’m gonna have to hit the medward and find the right combination of antibiotics to battle this nasty virus…eeeh what’d I give to Tawny when she had the Stomach Virus? Better consult my…..oh no, I can’t not from here! My laptop’s still in the Medward! I’d better change into something else to signal I’m not on duty or else they’ll get confused. (leaves Sakura’s room and heads back to his own room and changes out of his Medward Uniform and into a blue and white striped shirt and a pair of jeans into which he tucked the shirt into and fastened the button and fluted out the bottom of the shirt then threaded his belt through the belt loops and pulled his feet out of his boots,stuffing them into his running shoes instead then gathered up Crystal’s dirty dishes and took them downstairs,opened the dishwasher and sat them in the racks then shut the door and went to check on the younger kids who were still watching their Care Bears Movie and opened then slid out the door quietly shutting it behind him and headed down the hall towards the medward


End file.
